While you might not think of oats beyond steaming bowls of oatmeal or oatmeal raisin cookies, they actually have a number of uses in the kitchen. Oat groats — another name for intact, hulled oat grains — make a healthful addition to your diet. Like other whole grains, they help fight Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

I like to use oat groats in my cooking to replace rice and get their full health benefits from their fibers and minerals.

The other day I made this healthy and tasty salad. It’s kind of a remake of my Mediterranean Pasta Salad, but a notch healthier.

Hope you like it!

Ingredients (serves 2):

• 1/2 cup dry oat groats
• 1 zucchini
• 1 eggplant
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• fresh basil
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes
• 1/8 tsp salt

Soak the oat groats overnight. The following day, rinse them and place them in a sauce pan

Cover with water and boil for about 30 minutes. Drain and rinse again with cold water

In the meantime, slice up the zucchini and eggplant and grill them on a hot grill pan

Remove from the pan and let me cool down, then cut the veggies into strips

Wash the tomatoes, then cut them in half

Wash some fresh basil and chop it up

Place all the ingredients in a bowl, dress with salt and olive oil

and refrigerate until ready to serve

or just eat it right away…This was yummy and healthy and made me feel so good about myself! 😀

Love

– LittleDani